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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25863796">Hold Me in this Wild Wild World</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sammydoodle30/pseuds/sammydoodle30'>sammydoodle30</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Bending (Avatar TV), Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Anger Management, Anxiety, Borderline Personality Disorder, Coming Out, Depression, Drug Abuse, Drug Addiction, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internalized Homophobia, Karaoke, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Social Anxiety, Unrequited Love, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, sokka falls in love with zuko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:34:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,396</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25863796</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sammydoodle30/pseuds/sammydoodle30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Zuko is dragged to a bar by Azula to hear a new upcoming band. He becomes obsessed with the band's sound. He auditions to join the band as their keyboardist and gets in! The shenanigans of the band and Sokka's growing love for Zuko start to complicate life for all the band members.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aang/Katara (Avatar), Azula/Toph Beifong, Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hold Me in this Wild Wild World</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey y'all! This is my first fic so please be gentle. My friend gave me the idea to write a fic around a playlist and this is the story that stemmed from it. As I post chapters of the story I'll be updating a Spotify and Youtube playlist of the music in the story! My recommendation is to read the music scenes at the same time you listen to the song to really put yourself into the scene.<br/>Here is the link for the Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5mzUv3okTAYYqeobl0syXs?si=S8s_4OYVT6ilSe3_6zpaOQ<br/>YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8I9l6k71UhRHIbyT8syMjuhSQ5YIuLZK</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Zuko was playing with his spinner ring at the end of the bar. His sister Azula had convinced him to come with her to the Kraken, a local dive bar, in order to see the newest band she was obsessed with. He had only agreed because she’d promised to cover for him this summer while he went to Europe to escape their family. She was currently flirting with the bartender on the other side of the room. He scanned the room, it was filled to maximum capacity with young adults, a majority of them being students from the University of Washington which was just down the road. At the back of the dance floor there was a small stage, empty save for a drum set, and three microphones that were set up. It was a small bar so he was standing about 15 feet away from the stage. The music in the room alternated from top 20 pop music to shitty R&amp;B music that most people his age seemed to enjoy. He caught eyes with a random girl, turned his head down at his drink, and blushed. He didn’t even really like alcohol that much but his sister had put it in his hand and walked away.<br/>
<br/>
The current song ended and the lights went down. There was a hush over the crowd, some girls and guys were anxiously squealing in excitement. Three people came out onto the stage, and settled onto the stage, two were plugging in string instruments while the drummer spun drumsticks a few times waiting for everything to settle. The stage lights turned on and hit the center of the stage. Zuko first noticed the drummer, a bald man with intense blue arrow tattoos on his head and arms, wearing a large bright orange tank top and white sweatpants. A younger woman was holding a bass guitar, her jacket was camo and she had an eyebrow piercing and snake bites. She was staring aimlessly into the crowd, not seemingly to blink, and Zuko wondered how she wasn’t freaking out over the large crowd. Finally, his eyes fell on the guitarist, whose hair was shaved on the sides and the top part was long and pulled back into a ponytail. He had on ripped jeans, and a loose light blue striped shirt, he was also wearing a few necklaces that dropped down past his chest. His guitar was decorated with an abundance of stickers, Zuko was almost interested in hearing their music, then the guitarist opened his mouth.<br/>
<br/>
“Hey guys,” he chuckled nervously into the mic, adjusting it, and it revered around the entire bar, making Zuko cover his ears for a second. “Sorry about that,” another small chuckle and then a cough. This guy looked like he was about to sweat through his shirt due to nerves. “I’m Sokka and this is Captain Boomerang and the Benders. We’re gonna play a few songs for you tonight if that’s okay.” They got a bunch of cheers which surprised Zuko. “This first one is called ‘No Shoulder’, sing along if you know the words.” At this point Zuko has checked out, his head is down, he’s pulled out his phone, set it on the table, and is scrolling through tumblr. Sokka points at the soundboard girl, a funky, almost dizzying beat started to blast out of the speakers. Zuko is halfway in the middle of pulling his hands up to his ears again when Sokka starts singing. Zuko immediately shoots his head up. The man singing sounds nothing like the bumbling nervous guy who was talking a few seconds before. After getting through a few lines, he starts strumming on the guitar, going up a little in octave to be heard over the short chords. The drummer comes in at the beginning of the pre-chorus, and the bassist follows right after that. Suddenly what started as a dizzying beat, turns into a full song.<br/>
<br/>
Zuko is staring straight at Sokka, and then Sokka is staring right back at him and singing, “Waiting for the one I cannot live without. To replace the one I thought I could not live without.” Zuko’s body starts to vibrate with the music, he’s being sucked into the song. Then it starts to repeat phrases, “I’m stuck in a landslide”, the other band members creating a constant loop that sucks him in. And yet Sokka has never dropped his gaze, singing more intensely at Zuko, his body slightly turning towards him. Zuko is caught between thinking that this is either torture or music heaven. He slowly starts to feel the beginning of a panic attack, yet he can’t break eye contact. The song eventually ends and Sokka finally looks away. He says something in his normal voice but Zuko is far too gone to notice what’s being said. He pulls his phone into his pocket, chugs the rest of his drink, and then squeezes over to the bathroom as the band starts the next song. The music is muffled in the bathroom and Zuko takes a few deep breaths, uses the bathroom, splashes water in his face, and goes back out. This time he finds a spot more towards the front of the bar by the doors, his view is blocked by people standing thus avoiding the death stare he was getting earlier. He listens to the band play a few more songs and then decides it’s time to find his sister.<br/>
<br/>
He spots her making out with the bartender from earlier, he waits until near the end of the song and moves towards her. Awkwardly coughing when the song is over, making the guy jump a few feet in the air. When the guy realizes it’s just Zuko and not one of his bosses, he relaxes. “Azula can we leave now, you aren’t even listening to the music”<br/>
<br/>
Azula rolls her eyes at Zuko, “I guess, I was getting bored anyway. Thanks for the free booze Jakob.”<br/>
<br/>
“Could I get your number” the guy who must have been Jakob asked.<br/>
<br/>
“No, you’re not really my type if I’m going to be honest.” Azula pushed him back slightly out of her way and then starts walking away. Zuko shrugged his shoulders at the guy, in a “I’m sorry” kind of way and then followed after his sister.<br/>
<br/>
Right before they were about to walk out of the door he heard Sokka say, “we’re holding auditions for a keyboardist next week.” Zuko froze for a second in the doorway. “You can sign up on our website. Thanks again for coming out everyone, we have one last song to play” Azula grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door. On the walk back to their apartment Azula filled the time by complaining about how she missed the concert. And how come he couldn’t tell that she was signaling for him to come get her from the bartender during the first few songs. He kept mumbling apologies and when they finally got back to their place he ran into this room and shut the door. He found the website for the band, pulling open the page to register for the keyboard auditions. Then he looked them up on Spotify, finding they had released a few songs but not a whole album. He spent the rest of the night listening to their music. Something about the guitarist’s voice pulled at his very soul, demanding he repeat the music over and over and over and over and over until he fell asleep.<br/>
<br/>
When he woke up the next morning he looked over the audition page again. There was an option to either do an in-person audition or to film a tape and send that in instead. It took 6 minutes for Zuko to set up and film him playing one of his favorite songs. His fingers soared across the keyboard as he did the keys portion of Air Catcher by Twenty One Pilots. He quickly edited the video at the beginning and end where he is turning on and off the camera. Then before he can double think it, he sends in his tape. A week later he gets an email asking him to meet outside the music building on campus the next day, he’s been selected to join the band. He doesn’t know whether or not he is excited or terrified.</p>
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